Meanwhile, in other news...

[selenak]

As it has been recommended to me as a modern Cagney & Lacey (i.e. a cop buddy/buddy show with the buddies in question being two women, and the show's emotional centre being their friendship), I watched the first season of Rizzoli & Isles on dvd and have come to the conclusion that it's the tv equivalent of comfort food. The cases our heroines deal with a straight out of the cliché book for cop shows, and it's not sophisticated tv, but the female friendship is indeed central as advertised and fun to watch, and the rest of the ensemble (consisting mainly of Jane Rizzoli's family as well as her old and her new partner, both male, but neither of whom she has, in a stunning turn of events, UST with) are a likeable bunch as well. You can tell in the first season that the writers haven't completely worked out everyone's characterisation yet; for example, Maura Isles' social skills change, in that she's a Dexter Morgan in s1 level lab geek (minus the secret serial killing) except in episodes where she sets up Jane for dates which is where she suddenly is smooth like that. But still, fun, and for all that the cases of the week are eminently predictable, the set up of the show in terms of characterisation often avoids clichés. I already mentioned that Jane hasn't got any UST with her old and new male partner, though she's good friends with both and they care deeply for her. Jane also didn't become a cop because her dad was one; her father is a plumber. Much as I love Christine Cagney, Kate Lockley and Deb Morgan, this is refreshing. (Instead, Jane's younger brother Frankie became a cop because he looks up to her.)

One shallow observation: sadly, a key difference of Rizzoli & Isles to Cagney & Lacey is that both leading actresses and all the female guest stars with speaking roles except for Jane's mother (who is played by Lorraine Bracco of Dr. Melfi in Sopranos fame) are frighteningly thin. I realise this is standard for American tv these days, but it's still frustrating to think that actresses have to starve themselves like that and we don't get body types like Mary Beth Lacy's and Christine Cagney's in leading roles any time soon. Which also reminds me of Rose Byrne looking healthy and normal in Casanova (RTD version), somewhat more slender but still not starved in the first season of Damages, and suddenly frighteningly thin in the second. (Thankfully in the third she had put on some weight again.) (Also in terms of Ellen's state of mind and emotion in s2 it works for the character, but still, it made me afraid for the actress.)

And one question from the foreigner: I'm terrible with accents, and what I know of Boston ones is mostly derived from tv and the movies, so basically in my mind Kennedys = rich Boston, The Departed = Cop and Criminal Boston, and John Adams = Historical Boston. Now maybe I'm mishearing, but I thought nobody on Rizzoli & Isles sounds anything like any of the three versions?


***

July is approaching, and with July the fifth season of Breaking Bad. This is great but also cause of fannish anxiety on my part, because this will be the first season I watch in real time, and back when I was marathoning the dvds, being able to watch the next episode right away was very much sanity preserving. It's that kind of a show. Then again, watching in real time means being able to discuss and speculate with fellow watchers, so there's that. Speaking of fannish discussions, some people on my flist hated and some loved Prometheus, but it isn't released in Germany until August, so I can't judge and read anyone's review either way. Snowwhite and the Huntsman, otoh, is already out but not shown in the original English version anywhere near me, and I've read in the review by my local paper that the dubbing for this film is terrible. As evidence, the reviewer says that the huntsman is called "Huntsman" in English in the German version, as if that was his name as opposed to the term for his job, instead of being referred to as Jäger, which does sound pretty ridiculous. So I suppose it will be renting the dvd with that one for me.

Comments

[bimo]

I realise this is standard for American tv these days, but it's still frustrating to think that actresses have to starve themselves like that and we don't get body types like Mary Beth Lacy's and Christine Cagney's in leading roles any time soon.

It's sad and frustrating, isn't it?

Originally, I was going to type something along the lines of "Well, we mustn't lose hope, after all there have been quite a few exemptions to this rule in recent years, like DW's Billie Piper or Catherine Tate for example, or Candice Bergen over on Boston Legal" until it dawned upon me:

DW => British, BBC

Bergen => Supporting cast (though rather prominently so) and also well over 60. All the younger actresses on the show sadly tend to fall into the frighteningly thin and pretty category. However, one must give kudos to BL for consistently portraying Bergen's character as being highly attractive and actually possessing a sex life.

[selenak]

British tv, fortunately, is genuinenly different in this regard. Good to hear about Candice Bergen, but sad to hear the younger characters aren't allowed to follow her example!

[havocthecat]

Have you seen Catherine Tate on The Office (US version)? She's gotten thinner (sadly-to-me, as I loved seeing a not-ingenue, not-too-slender body on screen), but I don't believe she's gotten frighteningly thin.

[bimo]

Unfortunately I haven't, so I just googled a couple of images. Looks like she's lost about 10 to 12 kg or so...

[jesuswasbatman]

I still remember the wtf response many British fans had when US fans started praising the show for casting a non thin woman like Billie Piper.

[gelliaclodiana]

You might also like ITV's version of the female-cop buddy show, called Scott and Bailey; their boss is also female, and the interplay between the three of them is really, really good. (They fight crime, but they also have complicated personal lives, so there is quite a lot of relationship drama to it -- I don't know if that's a turn-off for you.)

[likeadeuce]

I have heard amazing things about this show. Haven't figured out how to access it yet but it sounds awesome.

[gelliaclodiana]

"Amazing" might be a bit to strong a word but it is very enjoyable both as a police procedural (you can tell that some of the writers are ex-cops because of the amount of time the characters spend sitting around waiting for something interesting to happen) and as a show about grown-up women.

[likeadeuce]

Cool!

[selenak]

I have no problem with relationship drama as long as it's evened out and feels right for the characters - i.e. to take examples from a show we both know, Sydney-Vaughn-Lauren(-Sark) in season 3 of Alias would be bad relationship drama, whereas Sydney & her parents in season 2, or Syd, Nadia, Sloane, Jack in s4 = good relationship drama.

[gelliaclodiana]

Well, the relationships are mostly very silly, and used to demonstrate the show's overwhelming rule, which is that All Men Are Crap (this is our household name for the show) -- but they don't come out of left field or anything, and people generally have the kind of relationships you expect characters of their sort to have.

[havocthecat]

Oh, nobody I know watches Rizzoli & Isles because it's good tv. Like, I love the show, but that has more to do with loving the mother and daughter relationships, and the friendship between Jane and Maura. Not to mention, that show is a femslash darling in the way a buddy cop show should be a femslash darling.

Also, many of us who watched Sasha Alexander on NCIS are incredibly pleased that she got a series regular gig and that she's one of the two top-billed leads on a series after she ditched out on NCIS at the end of its second season. (For good reasons, mind you. Not only were the physical demands difficult, which is the reason given, but we also know that Bellissario was so difficult as a showrunner that Mark Harmon put his star power on the the line with the network to get the man off the show.)

With you on the terrifically thin leads thing, though. It's hard to watch U.S. tv and movies sometimes.

[selenak]

Not to mention, that show is a femslash darling in the way a buddy cop show should be a femslash darling.

They even did an "undercover in a gay bar" episode, which made me laugh when I realised that was what they were doing.:)

[thirdblindmouse]

I don't think I remember any Boston accents in the episodes I watched, which is really weird for a show about a bunch of cops... (I'm from Boston, but that doesn't mean I'm any better at accents.)

[selenak]

Going by the replies, there seems to be general consensus nobody speaks with Boston accents on the show, indeed. Which I suppose is better than badly faked Boston accents?

[thirdblindmouse]

I dunno, fake accents can be funny? But it's certainly better than the depiction of Boston in The Practice, where one of the characters is supposedly a local boy from the North End but speaks with a thick Brooklyn accent. (Umm, they got the right side of the country...) I still sometimes wish shows would try. Rizzoli & Isles is the only show supposedly set in Boston I've ever seen that put any noticeable effort into making the setting not feel like Generic American City, which I appreciate.

[callmesandyk]

As a fan of crime procedurals because I love the women on them, the thin part is especially sad as show go on for years and years. Ugh, I love Law and Order: Criminal Intent, I love Alexandra Eames and her partner Bobby Goren, but it's heartbreaking to me how Goren (played by Vincent D'onofrio) ages like a man in his late 40s would - wider and grayer, and Eames (played by Katheryn Erbe) stays thin.

BTW, no one on Rizzoli & Isles sounds like they're from Boston, I'm kinda grateful because bad accents, well, I think David Boreanaz idea of irish and I'm glad when efforts for "true" accents AREN'T made.